After watching England I am convinced the USA is not far behind. England is crap right now, outside of Rooney they have no creativity. DD
But the US is still miles behind England. 3-1 vs Antigua and [Insert another tiny vacation island] 1-1 vs Guatemala I like the US direction but they have a while to go. It will be the next round of US soccer players that make a real inpact on the world stage.
Howard, Dempsey, Donavan, Bradley would all be upgrades to the UK national team, we are right there now. DD
^^ I think England would trash the US squad, you'll always look bad if you're not in good form at the European Championship because the level of talent is pretty great. Let's not forget that they played a solid qualification(5w, 3d, 0l). They would humiliate the teams that the US team struggled against recently and the English roster is pretty deep and well built, especially compared to the US squad. I think a game England-USA would turn out ~3-1 for England.
I disagree. All of those players are great for the US but they are on par with the rest of the English squad. Englad is an average national team and everyone needs to just realize it. I see them as a direct swap for the players they have not an upgrade in anyway.
England's players play at the highest level. Rooney - Man United Wellbeck - Man United Hart - Manchester City Cahill - Chelsea Ashley Cole - Chelsea Johnson - Liverpool Jones - Man United Lescott - Manchester City Terry - Chelsea Gerrard - Liverpool Downing - Liverpool (though I think he's not great) Henderson - Liverpool (also not very good) Milner - Manchester City Parker - Spurs Oxlade-Chamberlain - Arsenal Walcott - Arsenal Young - Manchester United Carroll - Liverpool Defoe - Spurs Those guys above play for top teams in Europe and have won big trophies (some of them). I know some of them are flops or are not the top top level, but no American players are making it into these European teams. Other than Dempsey, who has only gone up to the next level the past 2 seasons, there are no USA players that could make it for these top teams I think. That's not to say that the USA would not be able to beat England in a friendly or in a tournament - - the gulf is not great enough that it would be a walkover. But I think it's a stretch to say they have an equal squad. I do like the USA's future though, I reckon they are slowly gaining ground.
Yes, Italy also lost 0-3 against Russia and were playing terribly for a few months. Spain lost against England at Wembley recently (and also against Italy last year). I guess by that logic the USA is better than England, Italy and Spain. Besides, my point was more about the 'direct swap' mentioned by Stack. There is no way that you could say that individually the USA have better players. Otherwise the Americans would be playing for top European teams.
I just don't think the European squads are miles ahead anymore. Oh sure, Germany and Spain are, but the USA is not that far behind and in any given match could win. I know the World Cup is every 4 years, what this side of the world needs is a comparitive event pitting South America and North America...maybe the Americas cup during the same year as the European Championships. I mean Greece was awful - so many teams that were in there were just crap..... DD
I agree that on a given day the USA could beat a lot of the European teams. However, the top countries in Europe still have their players playing for the best club teams in the world. That's not the case with the American players - - so surely that means there still is a considerable gulf? I do agree the USA gets better all the time...
The top American players are in the top leagues though, they are spread out all over - you can be a star on a non top team and still be top quality. I just don't think the gulf is that big anymore. There is still a vast difference between the Brazils, Spains and Germanys of the world, but the rest are just about the same - IMO... DD
DD - can you tell me which specific players play for the top clubs/leagues in Europe? Honest question.
http://www.ussoccer.com/Teams/US-Men/Latest-Roster/120525-Travel-Roster.aspx Cherundolo and Jermaine Jones are decent players, they play in the Bundesliga. Jones is really German, I wonder if he even speaks English well. He is a pitbull type of player, like a Gattuso, sometimes he goes crazy, with wild fouls.
